Accommodation or ModificationWhat’s the Difference?

Disability Information SessionUC Clermont

February 10, 2009

Why Does it Matter?

• UC Clermont needs to maintain the academic integrity of its mission

• Students need to be able to complete the course in the same manner as peers within reason (ex. Blind student can have access to Braille instead of reading textbook)

• Students in post-secondary education need to be “otherwise qualified” to be a college student

IDEIA• The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEiA) is the

nation's special education law. First enacted three decades ago, IDEIA provides billions of dollars in federal funding to help states and local communities provide special education opportunities for approximately six million students with varying degrees of disability. In exchange for federal funding, IDEIA requires states to provide a free appropriate public education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE). The statute also outlines a detailed due process procedure to ensure that all students receive FAPE. Originally enacted in 1975, the Act responded to increased awareness of the need to educate children with disabilities and to judicial decisions requiring states to provide an education for children with disabilities if education is provided to those without disabilities.

U.S. Department of Education

Section 504

• Section 504 is a federal law designed to protect the rights of individuals with disabilities in programs and activities that receive federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Section 504 provides: "No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance . . . ."

U.S. Department of Justice

Definitions

• Accommodations refer to the actual teaching supports and services that the student may require to successfully demonstrate learning. Accommodations should not change expectations to the curriculum grade levels.

• Modifications refer to changes made to curriculum expectations in order to meet the needs of the student. Modifications are made when the expectations are beyond the students level of ability. Modifications may be minimal or very complex depending on the student performance.

*These terms are used interchangeably which only adds to the confusion!

More on Accommodations

• Nature of accommodation is to level the playing field and prevents discrimination

• Determined on a “case-by-case” basis• DOJ refers to “appropriate academic

adjustment”• Ensures civil rights for a person with a

disability in employment, education, housing, etc.

Section 504, Subpart E• (a) Academic requirements. A recipient to which this subpart applies shall make such modifications to its academic

requirements as are necessary to ensure that such requirements do not discriminate or have the effect of discriminating, on the basis of handicap, against a qualified handicapped applicant or student. Academic requirements that the recipient can demonstrate are essential to the instruction being pursued by such student or to any directly related licensing requirement will not be regarded as discriminatory within the meaning of this section. Modifications may include changes in the length of time permitted for the completion of degree requirements, substitution of specific courses required for the completion of degree requirements, and adaptation of the manner in which specific courses are conducted.

• (b) Other rules. A recipient to which this subpart applies may not impose upon handicapped students other rules, such as the prohibition of tape recorders in classrooms or of dog guides in campus buildings, that have the effect of limiting the participation of handicapped students in the recipient's education program or activity.

• (c) Course examinations. In its course examinations or other procedures for evaluating students' academic achievement, a recipient to which this subpart applies shall provide such methods for evaluating the achievement of students who have a handicap that impairs sensory, manual, or speaking skills as will best ensure that the results of the evaluation represents the student's achievement in the course, rather than reflecting the student's impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills (except where such skills are the factors that the test purports to measure).

• (d) Auxiliary aids. (1) A recipient to which this subpart applies shall take such steps as are necessary to ensure that no handicapped student is denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, or otherwise subjected to discrimination because of the absence of educational auxiliary aids for students with impaired sensory, manual, or speaking skills.

• (2) Auxiliary aids may include taped texts, interpreters or other effective methods of making orally delivered materials available to students with hearing impairments, readers in libraries for students with visual impairments, classroom equipment adapted for use by students with manual impairments, and other similar services and actions. Recipients need not provide attendants, individually prescribed devices, readers for personal use or study, or other devices or services of a personal nature.

Reasonable vs. Unreasonable

• Reasonable accommodations include extended test time for student with delayed processing skills, electronic textbook for a blind student, scribe for a quadriplegic student, etc.

• Unreasonable accommodations include extended time for every assignment, giving a student test questions/answers ahead of time, providing an assignment for one student that is vastly different from the assignment provided for the class.

More on Modifications

• K-12 system is governed by IDEIA• IDEIA is focused on a “success” model• K-12 districts can modify individual courses or

entire curriculums for students with disabilities

• May substantially alter the fundamental nature of the course

Examples of Modifications

• Student only has to complete half of the homework/assignment

• Student only has to choose from two answers instead of four on a multiple choice test

• Student can re-take a test as many times as they need to in order to pass

• Teacher “reinterprets” test questions so the student can better “understand” them

Technical Standards

• Technical standards refer to skills, knowledge, and abilities that students must have to enter a program (with or w/o accommodation)

• Technical standards differ from course competencies

• Universities are not required to lower these essential standards or fundamentally alter a program

Technical Standards

• Standards should be specific and describe an ability, not refer to a disability

• Consider the nature of the program and the relationship of the technical standard to the functional elements of the program and whether exceptions or alternatives are permitted and under what circumstances

Technical Standards

• Is the standard required in similar programs at other institutions?

• Is it essential to prepare the student for a certain profession?

• Is the standard a licensure requirement?• Can the person with a disability still meet the

standard with accommodations?• Clinical settings have different accommodations

UC Clermont Issues

• Student asked the instructor if they could watch a movie instead of reading a book for an assignment

• Student asked to use notes/textbook for exam when the other students didn’t have this as an option

• Student wanted to start an exam and then come back and finish later when they were “rested”

Think Outside the Box

• Student who could not articulate their thoughts well took an oral exam with an instructor to demonstrate mastery of the subject

• Student with traumatic brain injury took an exam a page at time. Instructor structured test to mirror the order of the material in the textbook

• Instructor created a series of alternate assignments to mirror experiences students had in a lab scenario

It’s O.K. to Say No!

• Students will often ask me about an accommodation that is unusual

• If I am unsure about the appropriateness of the request, I refer the student to the instructor for the final decision

• If you feel that it compromises the requirements of your course, you can say no and explain to the student why you have made your decision

Legal Implications

• The U.S. Department of Education, Office of Civil Rights investigates many complaints made against post-secondary institutions

• OCR will gather research and conduct interviews to determine if wrong-doing has occurred

• If a requested accommodation is denied, it is good practice to put it in writing and to meet with the student to explain the rationale behind the denial

• OCR will determine the reasonableness of the accommodation and issue a decision

Resources

• www.ucclermont.edu/dso• www.ed.gov• www.usdoj.gov